The delegation consisted of around twenty representatives from Saudi Arabia and Oman who are active in project development, port construction and waste and drinking water. Tailored to our guests, six colleagues shared relevant knowledge and projects focused on sustainability in a broad perspective:

• Witteveen+Bos and our activities and projects in the Gulf region (our managing director Wouter Bijman)
• Urban planning and landscape architecture (Alex Forsch)
• Urban climate adaptation (João Cortesão)
• Healthy cities (Jaïr Smits)
• 3D concrete printing (Shan He)
• Energy transition (Saleh Mohammadi)

On behalf of Deltares, Ivo Pothof gave a presentation on ATES, cooling and heating with groundwater.

‘Welcoming people from the Middle East is always extra special for me. I lived in Dubai for more than four years to set up our branch there,’ says Wouter Bijman. ‘Witteveen+Bos now has 25 years of experience in the Gulf region. It was valuable to be able to talk about our sustainable solutions to the challenges in the region, such as rapid urbanisation, water scarcity, environmental impact and climate resilience.’

*Climate Neutral Real Estate is a Dutch public-private partnership aimed at accelerating the design, construction and operation of climate-neutral real estate in desert climates.

The organisation was in the hands of André Vreman and Pamela Shehu (Climate Neutral Real Estate) and Rob van der Boomen, Natalie van Nunen and Patrick Blom (all W+B).